Cuttings, Days Out and Forgotten Tips

I've been away from the old homestead for a couple of days and this mornings round of checking and watering in the house,  the polytunnel and the pots around the outside of the house,  has had me amazed at the growth that so many things have put on in just those two days.

I pulled the Basil cuttings out of their jam jar of water on the kitchen windowsill to pour some fresh water in and was astonished at this mass of roots.  A bit of potting is called for later today I think.

Out on the hillside I have Courgettes, well one courgette that's recognisably a courgette .... it's not quite as big as you might think at first from this picture, you will realise the size if you spot my finger holding down a leaf at the bottom of the photo .... but it is at least a fully fledged courgette.

 I was worried I might not get any at all in the polytunnel as ALL the flowers up until now have been male, and then this morning I spotted this on one of the polytunnel courgettes, a developing female flower  ... PHEW!!

Whilst I was 'down South' we went to The Vyne for a good look around.  We're trying to get the best possible use out of our National Trust membership and make an effort to visit any house and garden in whichever area we happen to be in.  Although we found this house a bit disappointing compared to some we've been to recently, I loved the recently re-invigorated vegetable gardens, and whilst there noticed something that I used to do but seemed to have forgotten all about.

I quickly rectified my error this morning.  Putting terracotta pots next to most of my Pumpkins and Courgette plants.  It just helps with the watering, rather than wetting the leaves which this sort of plant hates you can water into the plant pot which takes the water down into the soil where the roots are the above ground the leaves are sat on nice dry warm soil.  Why had I forgotten to do something so simple and yet so helpful to the plants .... as Homer would say DUH!!

And look .... while I was planting my flower pots I spotted our first Pumpkin.

I also spotted that I had forgotten to label this bed, so I stuck a new plant label in the plant pot after sinking it into the earth.  The reason for using terracotta pots is because they are porous and on a hot day you can fill them up with water and it will leach slowly into the soil, but you can also do this with plastic pots and even with the top half of empty pop bottles with their lids taken off.  Anything to get the water to the roots of a plant where it is needed is a good idea and stops evaporation of water on the surface, so it means you can use less water, an important consideration if you're on a water meter.

Next to go into my little bashed pewter pot once I've potted up this Basil will be some more Rosemary, I just love the smell of it in the kitchen while it roots.

Did you ever do something easy but useful and then forget all about it until you got a reminder whilst out and about ..... or am I the only forgetful one!!

Sue xx